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editor's note

Tanya Chaitanya (Editor Femina India)

For every doubting Thomas who tells you women can’t scale mountains, wrestle in the ring, endure physical hardship, your comeback should be a simple hashtag:#StandStrong.
There’s no bigger retaliation than success, they say. So show your calibre to these detractors or anybody who believes that we, as women, lack the potential to be physically as fit as men by being just that. Not to say that it will be an easy process.
The conditioning that we are not at par physically starts early. From the time we are offered a hand to bring down the cookie jar to when we are told not to lift too heavy a weight; when the sports selectors in schools bypass promising girl children or when the male friends refuse to count us in in any serious hiking plans—that feeling of being physically less is ingrained right from the beginning.
So how is it that we witness sportswomen like Mary Kom packing a punch in the arena or a badminton champ like PV Sindhu physically pushing herself to the limits? Or the fact that celebs like Jacqueline Fernandez, Taapsee Pannu, Katrina Kaif swear by their fitness routine and are known to train for longer hours than their male counterparts?
Then again look beyond these superwomen. Look around you. There are regular women storming into male bastions, physically-challenging professions and pursuits, and coming out triumphant. This new-found confidence comes with taking care of yourself, being cognizant of the fact that our body needs to be given TLC, from the right diet and nutrition to exercise and care to help us stand strong.
This is when I raise a toast: Here’s to strong women. May we know them, may we be them, may we raise them!

‘The reaction of boys urged me to hit sixes’

Theirs is a story of grit and determination; theirs is also a story of braving sexist statements, pushing the physical limits, and dismissing all odds stacked against them. Almost all players of the Indian women cricket team we interviewed during the exclusive Femina photo shoot after their return from London after the World Cup had the usual 'cricket is not a girl’s game' and 'how will you be able to play cricket' statements passed at them. Almost all faced misogyny from the days of gully cricket well into their professional lives. And yet, they all emerged victorious to not only represent a sport that the nation obsesses over, but also to put the country on the world map of cricket. In an ongoing special series, we feature their stories, chronicling the hardships they faced and how they hit each one out for a six.

“I had a boy cut when I was 5-6 years old, so during most of the games, boys wouldn’t realise that there’s a girl amid them, and when they would come to know, they always reacted shockingly. From there came the urge of hitting sixes and taking their wickets.” Shikha Pandey, all-rounder, Indian women’s cricket team. This Indian Air Force officer is the first cricket player, male or female, from Goa to play for India.

Find out how captain Mithali Raj deals with sexism here. Watch this space tomorrow to find out what middle-order batswoman Veda Krishnamurthy has to say.